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Ramsey, whose zine List I've long been a fan of, moves from Chicago to Philadelphia and documents her first year there in one-week chunks. I've read a fair amount of daily comics, which I also like, but I appreciate how an artist giving herself a week allows her more space and the opportunity to be more selective about what she chooses to illustrate and share.

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I've long been a List fan, but I don't think I've ever gotten around to reviewing it before. Ramsey's perzine is in the form of lists: her own, found, and contributed. In #13, subtitled "Moving On," she applies her oblique storytelling to her break-up with her long-term boyfriend. The lists reveal her vulnerability, and that she is lonely but not beaten, also committed to veganism and straightedge, but not preachy about it. The lists aren't the full story, with a talented artist like Ramsey. There are lots of full-page drawings to illustrate the various lists.

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recommendation:

One of the greatest things about this punk rock lesbian bildungsroman is that it takes place on Staten Island, and also the East Village of the 1980s (?). The narrator Nina Boyd is a working class high school junior who is an athlete and aspiring member of the armed forces, in addition to being a dedicated reader of Love and Rockets and a Rocky Horror Picture Show-goer whose mecca is CBGB. Too bad she doesn't make it into CBs in high school due to curfews strictly enforced by her parents.

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This is a book club book, so I don’t want to say much about it before I get the chance to talk about it with Celia. And that’s fine, because I don’t have a ton to say about it. A young goth punk alcoholic in recovery, whose father died a few years prior discovers Debbie Harry, falls in love, and realizes he’s a transvestite. It’s an area that’s not covered adequately in the literature, but I’m not sure it’s covered adequately here, either.

free:

Zinester turned school librarian turned novelist Julie Halpern tells what seems like a very accurate depiction of life inside a teen mental health facility, complete with check out date determined by your insurance coverage. When I say "turned" that's misleading. Halpern manages to be all three at once, not giving up her ziney roots or her librarianship while publishing her books. Her protagonist Anna Bloom is likable and believable, but not too perfect; same goes for the rest of the characters. While she doesn't portray the hospital as a beacon of healing, she doesn't slam it too hard, and in fact at the end you feel that Anna's mental health has improved. However, you don't know for sure if that's because or in spite of the therapy. The main thing that Anna learns is how to be mad and be bad--two things that are vitally important for a young lady.